fears and faces

I have written of fear

of the faceless

and you name me fearless

smoky, inky-black opalescence

illuminating the dark

with ill faces

that no longer can find

home

a draught of bitter with dinner

I have read of fear

of the faceless

and you call me fearful

undertones of melancholic habit

our hard edge nine-to-five nonchalance

yes father I know my numbers

.22 .32 9mm .45 10mm .243 .306 7.62mm

the cant and wrote of my forebears

I know who is saved and who is not

but father, why?

‘because it is the way it has always been’

the tagline of Armageddon

privilege comes with responsibility

something that I was taught

I know to be true

not everything today is wrong

but the wrong that is today is faceless

insidious, rotting

and it is here

and it is becoming clear…

I have witnessed faceless

become infamous names

monstrous actions of no sense

no reason, treacherous to life

all we supposedly hold dear

now we have named the faces,

how do we defeat our fears?